Esperantujo (IPA: [esperanˈtujo]) or Esperantio[esperanˈtio] (English: Esperanto-land) is the community of speakers of the Esperanto and their culture, as well the places and institutions where the language is used. The term is used "as if it were a country."[1]

Although it does not occupy its own area of Earth's surface, it can be said to constitute the 120 countries which have their own national Esperanto association.

The word is formed analogously to country names. In Esperanto, the names of countries were traditionally formed from the ethnic name of their inhabitants plus the suffix -ujo, for example "France" was Francujo, from franco (a Frenchman).

The term analogous to Francujo would be Esperantistujo (Esperantist-land). However, that would convey the idea of the physical body of people, whereas using the name of the language as the basis of the word gives it the more abstract connotation of a cultural sphere.

Currently, names of nation states are often formed with the suffix -io traditionally reserved for deriving country names from geographic features, so now Francio, and recently the form Esperantio has been used i.a. in the Pasporta Servo and the Esperanto Citizens' Community.

After World War II, during Esperanto events there was a common currency used, but the management has stopped at the end of the 20th century.

In Europe on 2 June 2001 a number of organizations (they prefer to call themselves establishments) founded the Esperanta Civito, which "aims to be a subject of international law" and "aims to consolidate the relations between the Esperantists who feel themselves belonging to the diaspora language group which does not belonge to any country". Esperanto Civito always uses the name Esperantujo (introduced by Hector Hodler in 1908), which itself is defined according to their interpretation of raumism, and the meaning therefore may differ from the traditional Esperanto understanding of the word Esperantujo.

Esperantujo means any physical place as Esperanto meetings or virtual networks where they meet Esperanto speakers. Sometimes it is said that it is everywhere, where Esperanto speakers are yet connected.

There is a German city, Herzberg am Harz, which since 12 July 2006 is called "the Esperanto city".[3] There are bilingual signs and pointers, in both German and Esperanto.

Judging by the members of the World Esperanto Association, the countries where there the most Esperanto speakers are (in descending order):[4] Brazil, Germany, Japan, France, the United States, China, Italy.

A language learning partner application called Amikumu has been launched in 2017, allowing Esperanto speakers to find one each other.[5]

There is no governmental system in Esperantujo because it is not a true state. However, there is a social hierarchy of associations:

Universal Esperanto Association (UEA) is the principal association created in 1908, its central office is located in Rotterdam. The aim of the UEA is to promote the use of Esperanto, to strive for the solution of the language problem in international relations, to encourage all types of spiritual and material relations among people and to nurture among its members a strong sense of solidarity, and to develop in them understanding and respect for other peoples.

Sometimes exist associations by continent, for example the European Esperanto Union. On the same level exist UEA commissions dedicated to promote spreading of Esperanto in Africa, America (North & South), Asia, Middle-East & North Africa, and Oceania.

Finally, there exist local associations or Esperanto clubs where volunteers or activists offer courses to learn the language or get to know more about the culture of Esperanto. Sometimes they teach Esperanto in universities or schools.

Also there are thematic associations worldwide, which are concerned with spirituality, hobbies, science or that brings together Esperantists which share common interests.

In 2003 there was a European political movement called Europe–Democracy–Esperanto created. Within it is found a European federation that brings together local associations whose statutes depends on the countries. Working language of the movement is Esperanto. The goal is "to provide the European Union with the necessary tools to set up member rights democracy". The international language is a tool to enable cross-border political and social dialogue and actively contribute to peace and understanding between peoples. The original idea in the first ballot was mainly to spread the existence and the use of Esperanto to the general public. However, in France voices have grown steadily: 25067 (2004) 28944 (2009) and 33115 (2014). In this country there are a number of movements which support the issue: France Équité, Europe-Liberté, and Politicat.

The Jubilee symbol represents the language internally, while the flag represents Esperanto movement. It contains the Latin letter E (Esperanto) and the Cyrillic letter Э (Эсперанто) symbolizing the unification of West and East.

In addition, Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, the initiator of the language, is often used as a symbol. Sometimes he is even called "Uncle Zam", referring to the cartoon incarnation of American Uncle Sam.

Spread of the Internet has enabled more efficient communication among Esperanto speakers and slightly replaced slower media such as mail. Many massively used websites such as Facebook or Google offer Esperanto interface.[21][22] On 15 December 2009, on the occasion of the jubilee of 150th birthday of L. L. Zamenhof, Google additionally made visible the Esperanto flag as a part of their Google Doodles.[23] Media as Twitter, Telegram, Reddit or Ipernity also contain a significant number of people in this community. In addition, content-providers such as WordPress and YouTube also enable bloggers write in Esperanto. Esperanto versions of programs such as the office suite LibreOffice and Mozilla Firefox browser, or the educational program about programming Scratch are also available. Additionally, online games like Minecraft offer complete Esperanto interface.

The "Declaration about the essence of Esperantism" (1905) defines an "Esperantisto" to be anyone who speaks and uses Esperanto.[27] "Esperantism" was defined to be a movement to promote the widespread use of Esperanto as a supplement to natural languages in international and inter-ethnic contexts. As the word "esperantist" is linked with this "esperantism" (the Esperanto movement) and as -ists and -isms are linked with ideologies, today many people who speak Esperanto prefer to be called "Esperanto speaker".

The monthly magazine La Ondo de Esperanto every year since 1998 proclaims an 'Esperantist of the year', who remarkably contributed to the spreading of the language during the year.

Publishing and selling books, the so-called book services, is the main market and is often the first expenditure of many Esperanto associations. Some companies are already well known: for example Vinilkosmo, which publishes and makes popular Esperanto music since 1990. Then there are initiatives such as the job-seeking website Eklaboru, created by Chuck Smith, for job offers and candidates within Esperanto associations or Esperanto meetings.

In 1907, René de Saussure proposed the spesmilo ⟨₷⟩ as an international currency.
It had some use before the First World War.
The currency Stelo was created in 1942 and has been used at meetings of the Universala Ligo and in Esperanto environments. Over the years it slowly became unusable and at the official closing of the Universala Ligo in the 1990s, the remaining star-coins were handed over to the UEA. You can buy them at the UEA's book service as souvenirs.

The current steloj are made of plastic, they are used in a number of meetings, especially among young people. The currency is maintained by Stelaro, which calculates the rates, keeps the stock, and opened branches in various e-meetings. Currently there are stelo-coins of 1 ★, 3 ★ and 10 ★. Quotes of Stars at 31 December 2014 were [25] 1 EUR = 4.189 ★.[28]

There exist Zamenhof-Esperanto objects (ZEOs), scattered in numerous countries around the world, which are the things named in honor of L. L. Zamenhof or Esperanto: monuments, street names, places and so on. There also exists a UEA-committee for ZEOs.[29]

Esperanto literary heritage is the richest and the most diverse of any constructed language. There are over 25,000 Esperanto books (originals and translations) as well as over a hundred regularly distributed Esperanto magazines.

There are also a number of movies which have been published in Esperanto. Moreover, Esperanto itself was used in numerous movies.

Many public holidays recognized by Esperanto speakers are celebrated international and already accepted in other countries and organizations such as UN or UNESCO. Here are the celebrations internationally proposed by the UEA since 2010:

Every year numerous meetings of Esperanto speakers in different topics around the world take place. They mobilize Esperanto-speakers which share the same will about a specific topic. The main example is the Universal Congress of Esperanto (UK), which annually organizes the UEA every summer for a week. Other events:

Next to these globally comprising meetings there are also local events such as New Year's Gathering (NR) or Esperanto Youth Week (JES), which occur during the last days of December and first days of January. These meetings seem to have been successful during the last 20 years.

Due to the fact that there are a lot of Esperanto meetings around the globe, there are two websites which aim to list and share them. Eventoj.hu describes them with a list and dates, and contains an archive until 1996, while Esperant.io offers world map with the locations of future meetings.